The result of the Oxford Authentication Thermoluminescence test no. P205k28 dates the vessel to between 700 and 1100 years before 2005.

The kundika was one of the vessels used in purification rituals, with many earlier Tang period examples made in bronze. They originated in India and were adapted later in Tibetan Buddhism into vessels known as spyi-blugs.

For comparable Tang white-glazed ceramic examples, see Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, no. 236; another is illustrated by Sato and Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Volume 11, Sui and Tang Dynasties, pl. 110, from the BSN Niigata Ar t Gallery. Both of these, however, are smaller than the present example. An important bronze Tang example preserved at the Horyu-ji temple, Nara, with the bearded head of a foreigner forming the spout, is illustrated in Sui To no Bijutsu, col. Pl. 38. For a Song period silver version of this form, see Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Daquan (Anthology of Treasures of Chinese Cultural Relics), volume on Gold, Silver, Jade and Stone, p. 135, no. 136